Archive for SCIENTIFIC DEBUTANTE RAE

Glenridge Citation Roxy EX-97 is a true legend of the dairy breeding industry. Holstein enthusiasts around the world voted Roxy as the “Cow of the Century.” But did you know this breeding icon almost never existed?

At the 1958 Sale of Stars in Toronto, the Ontario Association of Animal Breeders (eight A.I. units at the time) bought a bull calf, Rosafe Citation R, for an unbelievable price at the time of $30,000 from H.J. Wilcox, who had purchased his dam, Glenvie Nettie Jemima (EX-13*) earlier that year at the age of 15 for $9,000 at the Rosafe Dispersal hedging his bets that she would have a son. Ontario Association of Animal Breeders was placed him in service at a cost of $7.00 per service, $2.00 above the normal rate, and breeders used him enthusiastically. When the first Citation R calves were being born it was discovered that he was a Red Carrier, something that was seen as undesirable at the time (Read more: Is Red Still Relevant?). In line with A.I. practice at the time, Citation R was returned to the Wilcox family, who in 1961 sold Citation R to Don Marcos Ortiz, owner of Santa Monica Ranch in Mexico for $33,000. As those early Citation R daughters developed they dominated the show ring. With a limited supply of semen available and in high demand in Canada and the US, it prompted Curtis Breeding Service and the Canadian A.I. units in 1966 to bring the semen back. This was just in the nick of time for Roxy, as the following year Lorne Loveridge, breeder of Roxy, was looking for the right mating of his top cow Norton Court Model Vee, Roxy’s dam.

As a calf Roxy was a tall, gangly heifer that really did not attract much attention from anyone, until she calved for the 2nd time. It was at this time she caught the eye of Doug Blair and Lowell Lindsay. (Read more: Sire facility dedicated to Alta founder, Doug Blair and Lowell Lindsay To Be Inducted Into Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame) Blair, part owner of Western Breeders’ Services (forerunner to Alta Genetics) at the time, was looking for bulls to buy, as was Lindsay, who was sire procurement officer for United Breeders. When they saw Roxy, they were overwhelmed. They discussed buying her on a 50-50 basis, but they couldn’t come up with the hefty sum Loverridge was asking for. Enter Bob Miller (Read more: Bob Miller – Outstanding from Any Angle). Miller was a Canadian born cattle photographer who had immigrated into the US and started his own herd Mill-R-Mor. Miller was summoned to the Loveridge farm to photograph Roxy and her dam Vee. Miller for quite some time had been searching for a cow family to build his breeding program around. He had some very specific requirements. Roxy and her family met all of them – type, production and longevity. Miller fell in love with Roxy but didn’t purchase her at this time. Later that year Roxy was named Reserve Grand Champion at the 1972 Canadian Western Agribition, and was nominated for All-Canadian consideration as a four year old in 1973. Loveridge had already started to realize that his location precluded many visitors from seeing the cow and her family. It was at this time Miller returned to Glenridge and purchased Roxy and half interest in her dam. Loverdige considered Miller’s Illinois location more suitable for promotion and marketing and the pair as well as Vale, Roxy’s ganddam, and Glenridge Emperor Rocket (EX-96-3E), Roxy’s three-quarter sister by Downalane Reflection Emperor, moved to Mil-R-Mor.

In Miller’s hands Roxy made four records over 1,000 lbs of fat. With career totals of 209,784 lbs of milk, 9,471 lbs of 4.5% fat. Making her the 3rd generation of 200,000 lbs of lifetime production. She was also one of the very few to ever score EX-97 points. Roxy was also a member of eight All-American, All-Canadian or Reserve All-Canadian groups, and with Glenridge Emperor Rocket was three times All-American Produce of Dam and all-Time All-American Produce of dam in 1984.

Glenridge Citation Roxy EX-97-4E Queen of the Breed I & II Member of the All-American Produce of Dam ’77, ’78 & ’79 Member of the All-American & All Canadian Get of Sire ’79 1st cow of the breed to have 10 Excellent dtrs International Cow of the Century 1999 Dam of the 1st 30* STAR brood cow in Canada 7 of her EX daughters earned Gold Medal Status Dam of 16 EX daughters She has 3 descendents with 15 or more EX Dtrs! (Roxette 17, Lana Rae 20 & Integrity Robin 15) The only 4 Generation direct line group of cows with more than 11 EX dtrs: Roxy 16, Roxette 17, Dixie Rox 11, Bstar Roxie 12) Highest producution Roxy is Brigeen Convincer Rhonda EX-95, 66,320 lbs milk in 365 days Highest Classified Roxy female is C Hanoverhill Tony Rae EX-96 Highest Classified Roxy male is Sir Ridgedal Rustler Red EX-97 Roxy has more than 300 EXCELLENT descendents

Brood Cow Extraordinaire

Even though embryo transfer was in its infancy, Miller placed Roxy on an E.T. program where she produced 30 E.T. offspring and three natural calves. She had 20 daughters and was the first cow to ever have ten Excellent daughters. Eventually, this led to 16 daughters scoring EX, four more were VG and there were 4 Excellent Sons.

Mil-R-Mor RoxetteEX-Can GMD-DOM 30*

Roxy’s most impactful daughter Mil-R-Mor Roxette (EX-30*) is not without her own story. Until 1977, Bob Miller had never sold a Roxy daughter. At the encouragement of Horace Backus, Miller consigned Roxy’s Elevation daughter, Roxette, to the National Convention Sale that year, being held in Columbus Ohio. Enter the legendary Peter Heffering (Read more: Hanover Hill Holsteins: Peter Heffering 1931-2012). Heffering had some investors who were looking to purchase some top animals, but would need to a little time to bring the money together. Backus and Heffering agreed to terms and Heffering came to the Convention Sale and purchased 19 head for $207,600. Among the cattle purchased were J.P.G. Standout Kandy, the top seller at $41,000 who was named All-American Aged Cow that year and again two years later. He also purchased Mulder Elevation Mazie, who would become a member of two Elevation All-American Gets. As well he purchased Mil-R-Mor Roxette at $25,000, the third highest seller in the sale.

R Peter Heffering commented “We felt that Roxy was one of the breed’s great cows and probably the best daughter of Citation R. Elevation was making a lot of good offspring, so when the Elevation heifer was coming up for sale at the National Convention Sale, we bought her as a foundation female for the herd. Roxette flushed well and turned out to be one of the strongest transmitting daughters of Roxy.”

After the sale, Miller raised objections. He hadn’t been consulted about his heifer being sold on investor terms, with a third down on sale day and the balance over the next two years. Rumors spread that the deal almost collapsed, though Miller has said years later that he was glad Roxette ended up at Hanover Hill.

Roxette produced 17 EX daughters and helped establish Roxys as the breed’s most consistent Excellent family. She became Canada’s first 30 star brood cow and scored 20 stars in the UK where she had many fans after leaving 11 of 22 daughters scored Excellent. Roxette moved first to Bond Haven, where she bred a Dixiecrat daughter, Bond Haven Dixie Rox, who superseded her dam as EX-93 2E 52* after moving to the UK. Stardale Leader Roxy EX-95 7E, by Comestar Leader from a Mr. Mark Cinder daughter of Rox, is one of the most popular brood cows in the UK. Leader Roxy produced over 100 tons of milk with her eighth lactation totaling almost 14,000 kgs in 305 days after a seventh lactation yield of 15,200 kgs at 5.27% fat and 3.29% protein for her owners, the Willsbro herd. Leader Roxy has proven to be a solid investment. Purchased for 8,500gns at the 2006 Stardale Sale of the milking herd of Robert and James Burrow, she has to date bred 16 daughters, 13 of which hold the Willsbro prefix, and her nine classified daughters have all scored Very Good or Excellent.

According to research, there are now over 381 EX Roxy’s whose pedigrees run in a continuous line of Excellent cows back to Roxy and hundreds more through her sons. One of the greatest contributors to that in recent years has been Gloryland Lana Rae EX-94-2E-USA DOM. So far 16 of her 21 classified daughters have reached EX, with all 20 averaging 90.9 points. Lana is from an EX Lindy daughter of Hanoverhill Tony Rae EX-96-2E, then Hanoverhill TT Roxette EX-94-2E USA, then Roxette. The highest scored daughter of Lana Rae is one of her five Durham daughters, Glory-Land Liberty Rae EX-95 EX-95-3E-USA DOM 4*. Liberty Rae was sold for $410,000 in the 2008 Cowtown Sale. She went on to win first Aged Cow, Best Udder, Senior and Grand Champion at the 2009 Vermont State Show. Liberty Rae has 16 EX daughters.

GLORYLAND LIBERTY RAE EX-95-3E-USA DOM 4* NOM. ALL-AMERICAN 4-YR 2005

It’s also this side of the family that produced Scientific Debutante Rae EX-92-4-YR GMD DOM 3* (Durham x EX-Jubilant x EX-96 Hanoverhill Tony Rae EX-96-3E then TT Roxette) who was the 2005 World Dairy Expo Reserve Champion, 2010 Global Red Impact Cow of the Year, and the dam of many notable Red and White sires, highlighted by Scientific Destry.

Other notable descendants of Roxette are her sons Raider (Starbuck) who was a very influential bull across Canada and the United States in the mid-1990’s and Royalist (Sheik). A full sister to Hanoverhill Raider is Hanover-Hill Star Roxy EX-92 2E. Star Roxy was twice nominated All-American and had four EX-94 offspring, three daughters and one son. Her great grandson, STBVQ Rubens VG-88 ST’98 GM’03, added udder quality, style and airiness not previously seen in the red and whites. This earned him the Premier Sire banner at World Dairy Expo for six years in a row.

Mil-R-Mor Toprox (EX-94-3E-GMD)

Mil-R-Mor Toprox (EX-94-3E-GMD) was the highest record daughter of Roxy, and one of the breed’s first 2,000 lb. fat cows. Sired by Hilltop Apollo Ivanhoe (VG-GM). Her most famous descendant of recent times is Brigeen-C-Integrit Robin EX-95. One of the highest scoring Integrity daughters worldwide, Brigeen-C Integrit Robin was bred from Haselmere Prelude Rhoda EX-91 3E. Rhoda descends from Brigeen Southwind Rhonda VG-88 2* via Mil-R-Mor SWD Rockette VG-86, who in turn is out of Mil-R-Mor Toprox 3E-94. Mary Briggs, one of the partners in Brigeen Farms, describes Roxy’s in The Holstein History, as “Healthy and fertile – the indexes around the world for somatic cell count, fertility and longevity highlight the family’s real strengths. They are above average in size and substance and are even-tempered, seldom fighting or stupid. They aren’t a nuisance: they just go along doing their business”.

Bottom Line

These days we see the Roxy’s all over the world having great results in the show ring, the bulls are hitting the top Genomic rankings and family members sell for sky-high prices at auctions. You can’t pick up a catalog from a top sale without finding a female descendant that traces back through her maternal line to Roxy. They are all out of different branches, but trace back to the one and only QUEEN- Roxy! Glenridge Citation Roxy has touched every corner of the Holstein world, bringing style, power and longevity to the breed. And she is a real cowman’s favorite with show style to boot. While it was Red factor that almost resulted in the greatest cow in the history of the dairy breed, Glenridge Citation Roxy EX-97 GMD 6* having never been born, it is now the Red factor, re-introduced to the family through Triple Threat that is having the greatest impact on Roxy’s legacy today.

Bob and Roxy

For most Holstein breeders when they start a sentence with the name Bob Miller they end it with the name Roxy. You see Bob and Roxy and her family have now been together for forty years. It started in the late fall of 1973 after Roxy was Grand Champion at the Regina (Western Canada) Agribition Show. She had been Reserve Grand the year previous. Bob was covering the 1973 show as the photographer. He fell head over healing in love with this, just fresh, fourth calving five year old Citation R daughter, Glenridge Citation Roxy. She matched his dream cow. However it would be another ten months, September 1974, before Roxy would leave her Saskatchewan home, owned by Lorne and Glenda Loveridge, and head to Dundee, Illinois. There Bob Miller would lead the transformation from great cow to supercow.

Bob’s Early Years

John Beerwort – Childhood friend of Bob’s

“All his life Bob has been full of fun and ideas to improve and excel” so says John Beerwort, Master Breeder, show judge and Type Classification Advisor. John is Bob’s boyhood and lifetime friend from Brome Centre, Quebec. ‘We grew up across the road from each other’. Marshall and Sarah Miller had nine children. The two that caught the Holstein bug were Bob, the youngest child, and one of his older brothers Grant, who served over twenty-years as a very well respected classifier for Holstein Canada. Besides formal education and sports, Bob won both provincial and national judging competitions in 1951. Since in a family of nine not all could farm at home, Bob and his wife departed Quebec in 1955 and he became the herdsman at Ravenglen Farms near Chicago.

What People Say about Bob

We often hear that the true worth of a person is what others say about them. Well in Bob Miller’s case words like humble, passionate, eager, curious, honest, high integrity, a true friend, a strong supporter of youth, a family man, a hard worker, able to walk in another’s shoes, thinks of what is best for mankind,….. are all mentioned by people who know him well or have only met him once. Definitely a man for all seasons and all reasons.

Bob’s Breeding Philosophy

Everything old is new again. How’s that you say? Well Bob, from an early age, wanted a cow that would classify Excellent and produce 200,000 lbs of milk with 4% butterfat. And over sixty years later he still wants that kind of a cow. In 2013 that as Bob says ‘is still what most farmer-breeders want from their Holsteins’. Like everyone else Bob has added in some wants including over 3.5% protein (3.2% true protein), high fertility and cows that are low maintenance, thus requiring minimal special care.

Recently Bob expanded his thinking for the Bullvine by saying ‘I want a cow with moderate stature (not show ring tall), wide chest and rump, udder above her hocks, having persistent yield throughout her lactation, calving every 13 months and one that the vet has not had to visit’. ‘Cows that are extremely tall, do not have great udders and are not able to stand in tie stalls or move about freely do not need to apply for work at Mil R Mor’. With practical experience Bob has, over and over again, proven for himself that it is the cow with high but not over the top daily production, with high components and with high fertility that over a lifetime returns the most revenue, at the least total cost, to her owner.

Family is Important to Bob

Bob believes strongly in inheritance and the use of cow families with built in profit traits to produce the next generation of dairy cows. However even more important for him and Kay are their family that they work with every day. The family team members at Mil R Mor include their son who runs the cropping and equipment division covering over 2000 acres, a granddaughter who runs the milking herd side and a daughter who cares for non-milking females. Besides those key family members Bob points out that there are thirty family members, covering three generations, either close by or within an hour’s drive, all of whom help out at various times throughout the year. All are Holstein enthusiasts. Mil R Mor will be a breeding herd into the future as Bob proudly says ‘after I slow down a little more’. “I am so proud of my kids and grandkids, they are all genuine caring people’. A proud man is another thing that Bob Miller is.

Glenridge Citation Roxy EX-97-4E“Queen of the Breed”

Queen of the Breed

Much has been written and yet the story is not finished on the Roxy Effect. Twice named Queen of the Breed and also the International Cow of the Year, now that is like being at the very top of Mt Everest. You can not go any higher up. In fact we often see in print that ‘everyone wants a Roxy’. What they want is exactly what Bob saw in Glenridge Citation Roxy forty years ago. A cow with moderately high production, high components, great dairy strength, width throughout, a capacious soft udder high off the ground and feet and legs capable of long winters in a stall in Saskatchewan or walking the pastures around Grenville. Another way of thinking of it is to think of Roxy’s grandson Hanoverhill Raider (EX – Extra) and the way he left daughters around the globe that fulfilled the need for long lived productive and profitable cows. Over 500 direct female descendents of Roxy have classified Excellent.

When Bob visited Glenridge to picture cows in 1974 he not only found Roxy but also her A.I. sired dam and grand dam both of whom would classify Excellent and produce over 200,000 pounds of high fat milk in their lifetimes. That must have been a very exciting day for Bob to find his dream come true. All that remained for him to do was to somehow be able to get the opportunity to work with this family.

Under Bob’s care and breeder instinct Roxy, 4E EX97, GMD 6*, produced sixteen Excellent and four VG daughters (none lower). Most of which were also Gold Metal or Star Brood Cow dams. Her most influential son was Glenridge Citamatt (No-Na-Me Fond Matt) who attained Superior Type for his owner United Breeders. Elevation crossed very well with Roxy, the most complete daughter being Mil R Mor Roxette Ex 30* with 7 EX and 10 VG daughters in addition to son Raider (Hanoverhill Starbuck). Bob started the Roxy Effect and many many top-of-the-line Holstein breeders from around the world have stepped up and bought into the Roxy’s. Notable Roxy’s include Scientific Debutante Rae 2005 World Dairy Expo Reserve Grand Champion and Golden-Oaks Perk Rae – Red as leader in both red and polled (Read more: GOLDEN-OAKS PERK RAE – 2012 Golden Dam Finalist).

GOLDEN-OAKS PERK RAE EX-90-5YR-USA 2*

Pedigrees and Bulls

In conversation with Bob he told the Bullvine that he had always focused on pedigree including both cow families and sire stack when mating for the next generation. Now with genomic evaluations Mil R Mor is using genomics but the animals must still come with strong pedigrees. So Bob continues his pattern of using all the tools. For him genomics is one more, very good, tool.

In case you might be wondering, Mil R Mor is not just a one cow family herd. The Pearl family is one other prominent family and they also match Bob’s breeding philosophy for medium sized cows with outstanding reproductive efficiency and long herd life. One of the Pearls has produced 300,000 pounds of milk. Now that is also some feat. When I hear Bob explain his breeding philosophies it makes me think that I should be booking a trip to Mil R Mor just to see this man in action. Action like 14 cows over 40,000 pounds of milk, 23 cows over 1500 pounds of fat, 194 EX cows, 18 Gold Metal Dams, 30 Dams of Merit as well as 4 national and 25 state production leaders and a herd BAA of 110.3.

Mil R Mor Holstins – Orangeville Illinois

Bob has Done It All

Most of us have three careers in our lifetimes. But not Bob Miller. He has had ten. They are hired man, herdsman, AI technician, breeder-herdowner, photographer, ET recover technician, industry business owner, breeding stock marketer, elected industry leader (in Illinois, the USA and internationally) and now family patriarch. No wonder the breeders of Illinois continue to have him as a Delegate to the Holstein US Annual Meeting. It was interesting to learn that Bob, a pioneer in ET, had developed his own device for the recovery of embryos.

Bob Shares Well

This knowledgeable, humble and caring man has given extensively of his time to youth, fellow North American breeders as well as traveling to numerous other countries. Many others including the National Dairy Shrine and Illinois Youth have honored him. Recently at the 2013 Holstein Canada Annual Meeting where she herself received special recognition Patty Jones, the accomplished livestock photographer, gave much credit to Bob Miller for giving her her start. Yes Bob truly helps others.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Bob Miller is the Bullvine’s definition of an elite breeder. An elite breeder is a dairy cattle breeder who sets a high goal for the kind of cow he or she wants to have in their herd, starts with a solid foundation and builds from that to a herd of cows or a battery of bulls that moves their breed to new heights. Bob Miller has done that extremely well. He has lead by example. Bob we are all following you.

Golden Oaks Farm, former owners, and Adolf Langhout, current owner, are justifiably proud of the achievements of GOLDEN-OAKS PERK RAE – Red-ET EX-90. Perk Rae is an 8thgeneration EX and she is a red Roxy. She has 7 EX sisters. Her sire, Burket-Falls Perk-Red, is a breeding product of Burket Falls Farms in Pennsylvania where the 270-head herd is 80% polled. With that family line behind and beside her and strengths that include protein (+16kg) daughter fertility (103), milking speed (107) and temperament (106), it isn’t surprising that she is a contender for 2012 Golden Dam.

GOLDEN-OAKS PERK RAE EX-90-5YR-USA 2*

Perk Rae is a Prolific Embryo Producer

Perk is impressive in her own right as a long bodied cow with power and dairy strength. She supports all of that with an excellent udder and outstanding feet and legs. She was on a continual flush program at Golden Oaks, performed by Sunshine Genetics of Whitewater, WI and recently has milking daughters from Alexander, Goldwyn and Shaquille. Perk Rae flushed really well and sold more than 100 of her embryos around the world. (Read – What Comes First the Chicken or the Egg?) With ten years in their breeding program she had a total of 81 registered direct offspring including 10 VG and one EX-92.

GOLDEN-OAKS DUR RAE1 VG-89-3YR-CAN – daughter of Perk Rae

Perk’s Imposing Number of Daughters Also Perform on the Plus Side

What is distinctive about Perk Rae is her capacity to transmit her quality to the next generation. Perk Rae has Very Good daughters by Vince, Mr. Burns and Durham. They all have high production. Her best daughter, by Durham, is Golden-Oaks Dur Rae1. She earned the maximum score VG89 as a three year old. Her production at three years was 13,530kg, 3.4% fat and 3.2% protein. Golden Oaks is working with a Goldwyn daughter who as a GTPI of +1910. As well, she has 8 VG daughters in the USA.

Perk Rae Mates Well

Nate Janssen, Dairy Operations Manager of Golden Oaks, reports that the best matings on Perk Rae have been Redman, Durham and Goldwyn. “A lot of Perks best descendants are from her Redman daughters.” Durham worked well, as mentioned previously, with a 92 pt daughter by him. Nate adds, “Goldwyn helped bring a little more angularity and style into the picture.” He outlines a two-part marketing strategy.

GOLDEN-OAKS PEACH-P-ET VG-85-2YR-CAN – daughter of Perk Rae

Perk Rae And Her Family Are In Demand in the Market

“Although we like to keep red in the picture, there is a market for high polled B&W animals, so we are using some of the top B&W as well and protecting for milk and health traits.” Presently there is large demand. “At our farm we have a PP Colt Daughter that we are currently flushing to fill contracts. We also have a polled Shamrock daughter that is 2000 GTPI.” There are progeny by over twenty-five different sires registered in North America and Europe.

There are Many Perks to Working with Perk Rae

Perk Rae is also the winner of the 2012 Red Impact Award from Holstein International. Second in family to win this award. Her dam’s sister, Scientific Debutant Rae, won it in 2010. In 2011, going under the hammer for $20,000 Perk Rae was the top seller at the National Red & White Convention Sale. Presently, Perk Raw is owned by Adolf Langhout of the Netherlands who plans to keep Perk Rae-Red at Sunshine Genetics in Wisconsin and export her genetics around the world where her descendants are continuing to garner attention. “It is very interesting that two direct daughters and one granddaughter are selling in the World Classic Sale at World Dairy Expo this year!”

The Perk Rae Advantages. She’s Polled. She’s Red.

New owner A.L.H Genetics is happy with their purchase. Embryos imported from embryos purchased previously resulted in a VG-86 Lawn Boy heifer in the Netherlands and the popular Lawn Boy son Lewitan PP at Mastrrind in Germany. The unique polled and red qualities of Perk Rae mean that her owners have sold her genetics all over the world. (Read – Polled Genetics: Way of the Future or Passing Fad?) “Since she is red, high type, deep pedigree, and polled, with a unique sire, there are endless markets!” He happily points out the obvious, “There are not many excellent cows that are red as well as polled.”